Note from A (Reasonable) Giants Fan

I’m not buying that they’ve been doing “this all year long.” I watch the games pretty closely and they strike me as about as dirty as the average team – there were definitely some extra cheap shots in the first game against the Pack, but I wouldn’t say that is the rule, rather it was the exception. So, as a Pack fan I would say you have something to complain about, but over the course of the season the Giants were one of the least penalized teams in football and I think that says something about their style of play.

You watch a Titans, Broncos, Raiders, Ravens, Pats, or Cowgirls game closely this season and there is really no comparison. The Titans are and have been the dirtiest team I’ve seen in a long time. And the Broncos invented knee-busting blocking.

You are right though that the NY press is milking this for all its worth…

And that article you linked to…quoting Rodney Harrison about dirty play? Are you f’in kidding me? As the author notes, Harrison is notorious for being one of the dirtiest players in recent NFL history. His word is meaningless.

I don’t have any reasons to quarrel with his assessment that the Giant-Packer was the exception, not the rule. I saw a few Giants games the rest of the year and while I saw a few extra shots, there are certainly teams were worse. (He names most of them. I’d add the Eagles, who should always be included on any such list. Jon Runyan still plays for them, after all.) I think Greg Bedard’s original description is still apt: “tough, physical football that approaches the line of dirty play.”